How Anwar beat pneumonia?

Impact of Our Work

Supporters like you helped Anwar get better with these (not-so-simple) steps

We first met Anwar* early one morning, as his parents were desperately looking for help for their sick son. They were in the refugee camp in Bangladesh, which has been their home since fleeing violence in Myanmar. Anwar was just 18 months old at the time and had been struggling with sickness for more than a week. His parents didn’t know how serious it was until the night before, when he had been up all night screaming, crying and trembling.

We took Anwar to our healthcare centre, diagnosed him with pneumonia and provided the treatment he needed to get better. We were there for Anwar thanks to support from people like you – it meant we had everything in place to help him get better.

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These are the steps that helped Anwar beat pneumonia:

1. Supporters like you helped us build a healthcare centre in Cox’s Bazar

When Rohingya families like Anwar’s left Myanmar to escape violence, they fled to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Refugee camps there are now home to almost 800,000 people. Access to healthcare is vital in these situations so, as well as setting up smaller health and nutrition posts across the camp, we also built a 20-bed healthcare centre, which provides 24/7 inpatient care. It opened the same week Anwar got sick.

2. Community Mobilisers were trained to raise awareness in the community

Community Mobilisers like Khotiza* (above) deliver different types of health messages and identify serious diseases, referring families to adequate health services. They visit about 20 families in a day and along with messages around health, they give advice on good hygiene to help make sure families stay healthy.

It was one of these community mobilisers that spotted Anwar’s mum, Rahima, and dad, Mohammed Amin*, in distress and took them to the new health centre.

3. Doctors diagnosed Anwar with pneumonia

At the healthcare centre, doctors checked Anwar’s oxygen, heart rate and temperature. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and treatment started immediately. It was a huge relief for Rahima to know her son was in safe hands. “After seeing him come here, I smiled for the first time in seven days this morning,” she told us.

4. Anwar was given oxygen and monitored by staff

As soon as Anwar’s treatment started, Rahima began to see a big difference in her son. He stopped coughing. His temperature dropped. His breathing became regular again.

“They gave him oxygen … my son became calm and slept,” Rahima explains, “when my son fell asleep I felt peace by thinking that he will be fine.”

Rahima stayed by her son’s bedside throughout his recovery and soon, he was ready to leave the healthcare centre.

5. Anwar headed home with his family

After three days of treatment, where he received care from Save the Children’s doctors and paramedics, Anwar was discharged from the healthcare centre and headed back to their tent.

“When I took my son to the clinic, he was lying in my arms,” Rahima says. “When I brought him back, he was walking. He came back as a healthy child.”

We visited them a few days after he left the healthcare centre and Anwar was playing with a friend next door – they kept pulling back the canvas of their tents to talk to one another and share food. It was wonderful to see what can happen thanks to support from people like you! Anwar was full of energy again – he was completely different from the little boy on the big bed in the healthcare centre.

Anwar and his mum kept giggling together and it was a lovely thing to see.

When you make a donation, you make an important contribution that leads to children’s lives being saved. You make special moments possible and the world a better place. Thank you.

*Names have been changed to protect the identities of Anwar and his family.